


Another Day At The Office

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Anger, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anti Being Creepy, Apologies, Arguing, Banter, Brotherly Bonding, Canon Compliant, Companionable Snark, Dang it Anti why did you have to turn fluff into a nightmare, Death Threats, Domestic Fluff, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional Roller Coaster, Exhaustion, Families of Choice, First Meetings, Flying, Fun, Hacking, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Introspection, Magic, Major Character Injury, Medical Examination, Multiple Selves, Newborn Children, Nostalgia, Overprotective, Panic, Pre-Canon, Strangulation, Stress, Surprises, Suspicions, Teasing, Trust Issues, Unresolved Tension, Violence, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 21:02:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12615436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: “Your coworkers are barely responsible enough to take care of their own work; how do you know they’ll be any better around a baby?”“Because they’re more than just my coworkers, Stacy! We come from the same creator and they’re the closest thing to family I have!”Much to his wife's chagrin, Chase insists on introducing his newborn son to the other Egos. It's not as joyous an occasion as it sounds.





	Another Day At The Office

“Are you sure about this, Chase?” Stacy demanded again, offering her husband a suspicious sideways look. She would have gone through the full motions to display her annoyance—a short, impatient huff, a flip of her dirty blonde hair, and a long-perfected roll of her eyes—but she was busy keeping her attention on the road. Even if Chase possessed a license, he had a feeling she wouldn’t have trusted him to take this particular drive.

“Look, babe, I’ve told you a thousand times,” Chase sighed, folding his arms carefully over the sleeping bundle strapped to his chest by the seatbelt. “If we don’t introduce them to the baby, the others are going to riot and it won’t be pretty.”

“Well, I have a feeling this won’t be much better!” Stacy insisted.

Groaning, Chase leaned his head back, wiping his hand over his sleep-deprived eyes. “So you keep telling me…”

“Then why aren’t you listening?! Your coworkers are barely responsible enough to take care of their own work; how do you know they’ll be any better around a baby?”

“Because they’re more than just my _coworkers_ , Stacy!” Chase finally snapped. “We come from the same creator and they’re the closest thing to family I have! Call me crazy, but it looks like you trust your family, so would you just give me a break and try trusting me and my family first, _for once?!_ ”

When Stacy offered no response but a bitter scoff, Chase glared at her but said nothing more, turning his attention to his son. To be honest, he was surprised that Conner was able to sleep so easily through their spats; how Chase desperately hoped it was a sign for the future. It would be so much easier if Conner could just tune them out without being hurt.

Their daughter Brianna, smarter than her years, wasn’t so easily kept in the dark. In fact, Chase had a sneaking suspicion that the reason Brianna had stayed home was because she didn’t want to be cooped up in a car with her bickering parents. Chase hated that, but it seemed like every time a counseling session was scheduled, it came into conflict with his work or Stacy manipulated things behind the scenes so she could dodge it and he would be left sitting alone in the counselor’s office, humiliated and fuming.

He couldn’t focus on that right now; those were bigger issues for another time. Right now, he just wanted to reach Egos Central and have some fun with the lads.

As soon as they pulled up to the building, Chase leaned forward in anticipation, jostling Conner awake. The baby gurgled questioningly and Chase gently shushed him, running a hand over the downy fluff on his head.

“…What if _he_ shows up?” Stacy asked in a low voice, annoyance bleeding out in favor of pure, nervous tension. Chase paused with his hand halfway to his seat buckle, his mouth suddenly dry as he glanced over at her. There wasn’t any triumph in her face at catching him off guard, for once; all he saw was that her knuckles were pure white against the steering wheel and her face wasn’t much better. She was the picture of motherly fear.

“Then you’ll take Conner to the nearest door outta there,” Chase answered, keeping his voice even, “and you’ll call your sister to pick you up ASAP. I’ll help the others handle him.”

Stacy wasn’t at all reassured. “Chase—”

“C’mon, let’s just get inside,” Chase mumbled, steadying Conner as he got out and strode across the parking lot. He stopped just outside the glass doors, waiting for her to catch up, and then the couple shared a deep breath, forcing smiles at each other. Chase felt a pang of regret in his stomach. She had always looked so beautiful when she smiled, and this wasn’t anything close to genuine.

“Bros!” he called cheerfully as he nudged the doors open with his nearest shoulder. “You all in here? You busy?” He hadn’t told the others he was coming in today, much less with his newborn, so he had a feeling things were about to get excitable.

“Chase!” Marvin scolded distractedly as he backed out of his room into the hallway, tense with concentration. He was in the middle of a spell, bright green sparks dancing across his fingertips as he warped the dimensions of several floating playing cards. “You’re not supposed to be here; this is your day off, isn’t it? I was just getting used to an afternoon where I didn’t get pegged with nerf bullets!”

Chase couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Well, c’mon, you know you deserved it, Marv!”

“I—” Marvin happened to glance over at them then and the spell fizzled out, his cards scattering across the floor. “Is that—Is that what I think it is?! Is that _who_ I think it is?!”

At last Chase felt that his own smile was genuine. “Come and meet him, would ya?”

That Marv did quite eagerly, sprinting across the hallway toward them with his cape fluttering grandly behind him. “Hey, Stacy,” he greeted hurriedly before hovering breathlessly over Chase’s son. “Hello, um…!”

“His name is Conner, Marvin,” Stacy provided.

“Well, Conner, welcome to Egos Central! Your daddy is the life of the party here,” Marvin explained sweetly to the baby, who responded by giggling, reaching out and tugging forcefully on the cat mask he wore. “Ohh, you like this?” the magician asked in delight, pulling it up over his head and holding it up to Conner’s pudgy, curious face. “I named it Mr. Fluffington and I just touched up its paint this morning. Did you notice that? Do you want to wear Mr. Fluffington for a while?”

“No, no, wait,” Stacy burst out, grabbing at Marvin’s arm with one hand and the mask with the other. “I don’t want him inhaling any paint smells; they might be bad for him!”

“Would you like me to enchant his nose so he doesn’t have to?” Marvin countered with a serene smile.

Stacy sputtered, shaking her head with such force that her hair flew around her cheeks. “Absolutely not! Just—let’s find out where the others are; I’m sure they’re eager to meet him too.” Pressing a hand against her forehead as if to ward off an oncoming headache, she brushed past Marvin down the hall, already looking exhausted.

“Could you really enchant his nose?” Chase asked in a low voice, genuinely interested.

“Of course not. I’m not advanced enough to perform magic on people, but she doesn’t know that,” Marvin answered in the same tone, frowning lightly as he examined the edge of his mask, which had crunched slightly under Stacy’s firm grip. Eventually giving up on smoothing it out, he slid it back over his face and grinned fondly at Conner, who strained to reach for it, babbling insistently. “I’ll make you a little mask of your own, Conner, and I’ll decorate it with crayons,” Marvin promised before following Chase’s wife, who was already nearing the end of the hall.

They found Jackieboy Man hunched over the computer, shaking his head furiously and occasionally cursing as his red gloves hindered his typing. As the door opened, he called tersely, “For the last time, I’m not _stressed_ , Schneep, I just need this last bit of intel on the break-in!”

“Sounds pretty stressful,” Chase commented mildly at the same time Stacy echoed, “You’re getting involved in a break-in?”

A long dial tone noise sang from the computer and Jackieboy gasped, gripping the sides of the monitor as it began to smoke. “ _No!_ ” After a long, tense moment, the screen filled with static and the superhero slumped down in his office chair, growling, “Well, then! I was _going_ to get involved in a break-in. I was going to _prevent_ it, but I guess that’s not on the schedule today!” As he spun the office chair around, however, he perked up almost immediately, exclaiming, “But the day’s not over yet! Is that Conner?!”

“You knew his name already?” Marvin demanded, pouting at Chase, who shrugged sheepishly. What could he say? His call had gone straight to Marvin’s voicemail.

“You didn’t know?” Jackieboy countered skeptically as he leapt up with open arms. “Come here, little sidekick!” Beaming as Chase handed him over, nodding politely to the increasingly nervous Stacy, Jackieboy lightly nuzzled Conner’s button nose with his own, crooning, “You’re adorable! You’ll be the cutest little crime-fighter ever to grace the city! I’ll teach you how to fly! Conner-boy Man, awa-a-ay!” With no further ado, he thrust the squealing baby straight up over his head and began jogging lightly around the room, gradually picking up speed until his next step took him off the ground.

“What are you doing?! Jackieboy, you can’t take him up there!” Stacy hollered in alarm as Jackieboy floated upward, completely ignoring her panic.

“Look, Conner, m’lad! You can see your parents from up here,” he whispered, widening his eyes excitedly as he tucked Conner close to his chest. “With them and the rest of us lookin’ after you, you’re gonna go so high! I can already tell you’re not afraid of heights like your daddy. When he’s busy with his vlogging, I’m gonna babysit you and I’m gonna take you flying every chance I can. It’s gonna be so much fun, isn’t it?”

Conner responded by fisting his tiny fingers into the fabric of Jackieboy’s jumpsuit, blinking up at him with rapt attention. Even when Marvin called to him that he should stop hogging the time with the baby, Jackieboy took his time, drifting slowly to each corner of the ceiling before spiraling back to the ground. As soon as he touched down, Stacy scooped Conner out of his arms, eyes narrowed accusingly.

“You can’t just fly him around without permission!” she said sharply. “For all we know, you could’ve dropped him!”

“Well, he _didn’t_ , did he, Stacy? So you can calm down. You have him and it’s over now,” Chase muttered icily. Taken aback, Jackieboy glanced between the two of them as they shuffled uncomfortably, a warning ringing quietly in the back of his mind.

Boy, he hoped he wasn’t seeing what he suspected.

“Sorry,” he offered Stacy, clearing his throat. “I didn’t mean to overdo it. Chase seemed like he was okay with it.”

“I am,” Chase agreed pointedly.

Stacy squinted at him, trying to gauge how sincere the apology was, and then nodded curtly, kissing Conner’s head as he tucked his face against her shoulder. “Whatever. It’s fine,” she brushed it off, though her tone spoke volumes to the contrary. “Just don’t do it again.”

“At least not until he’s a little bouncier,” Marvin interjected.

“Or maybe you could wait until he has a choice in the matter,” Stacy argued. “He might not want to go flying!”

“Alrighty, then, he can stay safe down here with me and become an artist. I’ll provide all of his art supplies,” Marvin suggested cheerfully, adding a wink that may or may not have been meant to antagonize her.

Stacy’s face reddened and she opened her mouth to snap at him, but Chase intervened. “Either of you seen Schneep around, my dudes? He’d kill us if we left him out of this.”

“Oh, not too long before you came, I couldn’t get rid of him!” Jackieboy sighed, running a hand through the tufts of hair poking out of his hood. “He keeps saying that my hacking exploits are just stressing me out.” Taking on a mangled German accent, he quoted, “‘Bad for your liver pressure and blood temperature! You cannot go on like this!’”

“Well, Conner can save the day by getting Schneep’s attention,” Chase assured him. “He’s been calling me every day begging me to let him give Conner his first in-house checkup.”

“Wasn’t he the one who delivered him?” Marvin asked, puzzled.

“Nope. As much as Schneep wanted to be included, Stacy wanted to use her family doctors.”

“I’ve known them my whole life,” Stacy huffed. “Can you really blame me?”

Even as he walked, Chase clenched his eyes shut for a moment as though praying for patience. “I wasn’t blaming you for anything.”

A delicate silence fell over the group after these words and Chase was left to his thoughts during the walk. When he had introduced the group to Brianna, it had been easier, he mused bitterly. Stacy had taken longer to recover from her first pregnancy, so he had walked here on his own, tucking his little girl into his coat against the cold. She had squirmed the entire time and drooled all over his t-shirt, but he hadn’t cared a bit.

When he’d arrived with her, it was honestly one of the happiest times he’d had in this building, which was saying a lot. Jackieboy had tried to fly with her as he just had with Conner, but she had given him the unfortunate surprise of throwing up on his jumpsuit. Chase had joined all of the others in laughing at him and eventually he’d just accepted it with a lopsided grin. Granted, Brianna had spent the rest of the evening in Schneep’s lab, as he insisted she must be sick if she was throwing up, but it had given Chase a chance to visit with Marv and Jackieboy.

As Stacy and her family were quick to point out, when he was away from work he _missed_ them. At the time, he hadn’t gotten to see them since the day Brianna was born, when he’d rushed out mid-video to get a cab to the hospital. Now that their doc was taking care of her, he had been free to joke, vent, and joke with them some more until he abruptly fell asleep lying on the conference table. When he woke up, he found that Marvin had charmed his hat so it was fastened to the front of his face, but he thought of it fondly now.

 _Yeah. I missed this_ , he decided again, running a hand over the doorframe as they entered the lab. “Schneep! You in here, bro?”

“Chase Brody!” Dr. Schneeplestein exclaimed gleefully, tossing aside the clipboard he had been examining. The papers fastened to it tore free, fluttering across the room, but Schneep didn’t seem to care, sprinting over to tackle him in a hug. Chase felt his back crack almost immediately and winced a little but returned the embrace, drawing a laugh from the doctor as he drew back.

“It took you a long time to return my call!” he scolded, planting his hands on his hips.

“I…didn’t return it, as far as I know,” Chase remarked.

“That is my point! If I call every day, you will visit! That was my plan all along.” Smiling brightly, Schneep glanced past him and spotted Stacy, raising his eyebrows at her and waving hello. “Ahhh, I see you! You’ve come for postnatal, yes?”

“No, thank you. Chase thought you might want to see our son,” Stacy explained warily.

“Your s—?” Schneep cut off his own question with a gasp, peeking in awe at Conner, who waved his arms wildly against the folds of his blanket. “Your beautiful boy—he still looks too pink, but otherwise beautiful!”

“Wait, too pink? Isn’t he supposed to be…?” Chase trailed off as Schneep waved for Stacy to hand Conner over. When she did, he clearly took her by surprise by cradling him properly, cooing softly in German as he started pacing the room.

“He had kids of his own, y’know,” Chase informed her, noticing her bewildered expression. “Told ya they’d be good with him.”

“Congratulations,” Stacy answered, though it didn’t have much bite. She was tracking Schneep’s every move. “What’s he saying to him?”

“My own little ones are not so little anymore…and they don’t love me,” Schneep murmured wistfully as he and Conner reached the other side of the room, out of the others’ earshot. “I think they were better like this—good like you are. You’ll be good and little for a while, you know, so you must make Chase Brody happy. You love your Chase like we do. You do that and you make your sister do that. Your daddy deserves that, no matter what.”

Conner smiled toothlessly at the words, grabbing at the doctor’s chin and earning a stubbly kiss on the forehead before Schneep spun back toward the others, calling, “Now! Your baby needs a checkup! Let’s go to the backroom, where we start with his heart! He’s surely melted mine already!”

“Dastardly villain!” Jackieboy teased.

“Can I observe?” Stacy was quick to ask. Schneep was equally quick to agree and Chase’s wife hurried after him behind the nearby curtain. Chase released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, leaning against the doorframe and pressing his hand against his eyes.

“Chase…you seem off,” Marvin voiced what both he and Jackieboy were thinking. For once the mischief had completely left his tone and Chase looked him in the face, open and tired.

“Yeah, I am, but there’s way too much to talk about in the span of a checkup,” he admitted, shaking his head.

“Yes…S͡o little t̨͝i̶̡m̴͟e, isn’t there?”

All three of them jumped at the words and Chase’s heart sprang into his throat as static flowed through the air in the hallway. Reacting instinctively, Jackieboy dragged Marvin further into the room next to Chase and threw his arms in front of them defensively.

“Stay behind me…” he growled, eyes igniting with a sharp silvery glow. “Marv?”

Green light crawled in thin lines along Marvin’s cheekbones and wrists, disappearing under his mask and gloves as he performed his spell. Chase had only seen him use a locator spell like that for one person.

“He’s flickering,” Marvin hissed, his voice echoing inside his green aura. “Weaving himself in _and_ out of the room at the same time!”

“Give me an estimate!” Jackieboy shot back hurriedly. Chase trembled with unreleased adrenaline, slapping a hand to his hip. He didn’t find the holster he was looking for.

“I left my gun in the car,” he breathed shallowly, whirling around in an abortive circle, seeing nothing.

“N̴o need to p̶̨anic, _b҉oy͠_ ,” Anti sneered, materializing a few yards away from them and spreading his arms out welcomingly. “I̴̧͠’ve been right here a҉̕l͞l̛͘ this tim̶͝͞e. Are you sur͢p͞r̶ised?”

“Why are you here?” Jackieboy spat, doubling his fists and taking a bold step closer. Anti eyed him with distaste, the blue in his eyes glitching to black.

“No̕t҉ for you, h͟e͝r̡o͜. C̡ha̡s͏e͠…I hear you’re a new f̕a̴t̵ḩer͢ again! You weren’t p͢ayi͢n̸g҉ ͡atte͢nti̡o̵n last time,” the Glitch reminded him, baring his teeth in a reproachful smile. “B̧ria̧n̷na̷ hasn’t been b̸̷̴ack since you b̸̷̴rought her here the f͘i̶r͘st time! Just t͢hre͡e weeks old, wasn’t s̕͞͞he?”

“Stop,” Chase murmured weakly, feeling physically ill at the way Anti said her name.

“But t͝h͜is time you t͝h͜ought of m̷҉e—you weren’t p̕r̸epared, as usual, but you r͟em̸̡͘em͢͜bered. G̶̴͢ood ͡boy̡. Just to show my grati҉tud̵e, I felt I had to introd̷uçe myself to y̨ơur͠s.” As Schneep and Stacy’s voices floated closer behind the curtain, oblivious to what was happening outside, Anti’s smile widened to a gleeful grin. “And he͘r̕e͘ h̡e çome̡s.”

“ _Stop!_ ” Chase howled again, throwing himself forward. He didn’t care that he was unarmed, he didn’t care that he had no powers, he just had to get close enough to tear out the rest of the Glitch’s wounded throat—

Everything happened within the span of a few seconds. Jackieboy seized one of Chase’s arms, swinging him back as Anti dove to meet him, shrieking with laughter as he burst into static and passed straight through the younger Ego. He reappeared behind them. By the time Chase and Jackieboy could turn, he had Marvin on the ground with his cape knotted around his throat. Marvin choked, thrashing and scrabbling as best he could under the knee Anti had pressed into his back.

“C͡a̧̛n’t say ş̴pells when you’re being st͘rang̡le͟d, can you, c͢h͞ar̵m̶e̢r͢?” Anti giggled, losing only a little of his giddiness as Jackieboy reeled back a menacing fist. “A̛n҉y̛ way you t̨͘͠ry to t̨͘͠ouch me, I either sm͠o̶t̵her him or I br̕e̛a̸k̴ his neck.”

The shush of curtain rings being pulled aside made Anti look beyond them, where Stacy stopped up short, pressing her hands over her mouth to stifle a scream. With a half-formed curse, Schneep looked wildly to the nearest scalpel, but Anti was there before he could even shift toward it, his own knife poised at the doctor’s throat. Chase, for his part, couldn’t even think about the threat to his fellow Ego; all he could see was that the top of Conner’s head was mere inches away from the knife’s edge.

“H͜e̴llo, d͡o҉ct͞or. Did you m̨i̶ss̸ me?” Schneep dared not swallow, much less answer, as Anti glanced down at Conner, who babbled worriedly, ignorant to the cause of the adults’ terror. “Well, ar̡e̶n’t you b̢rav̸e …u͢nl̶ike the r̷esţ of them,” Anti purred, smirking hungrily at the sobbing Stacy before offering Conner a bloodstained finger to hold. When Conner shied away from it uncertainly, he chuckled, tracing it over one of his cheeks instead and leaving a faint smear in its wake.

“I ne̵ver got to say h̛e͜llo̡ to your s͘işter, C҉o̢n͢ner,” he remarked, seeming amused when the infant whimpered, eyes welling with tears as he turned his face away. “Chi̶n up, b̴rave ̷b̴oy. You can say̛ ̛he͝llo to her for—”

A thunderous blast of magic struck Anti in the back, sending him flying. Knife skittering across the floor, he crashed into one of Schneep’s medical carts but rolled to a recovery, snarling viciously at Marvin, who was being supported by Jackieboy as he poised his hands for another attack.

“Get out of here, _Defect_ ,” Marvin wheezed. “I’ve already sent the Jack of Diamonds and the Queen of Clubs—”

“W̵h̶̡͟i̕͝c̷h̛͜ ̵su̡m͢mo̷n̡s ̴͠h͟i̢͠m!͝ _T͘h̸͡͡ȩ͟m!_ ” Anti near-screeched, glitching himself onto his feet. He peered around at the group, his head twitching defectively to one side as he added lowly, “T̸͞oo bad your J̵a͡ck̷ won’t a͠l͠wąys be around to sa͏ve͝ ̢y͜o̢u̶.” With that he fizzled out, leaving behind a lingering cold and white noise.

“Conner!” Chase gasped, scrambling to take him from Schneep as the doctor helplessly held him out. Once his hands were free, Schneep picked up Anti’s fallen knife by two fingers and tossed it onto the nearest medical tray, shuddering in revulsion.

“Chase, is he okay?!” Stacy cried, nearly knocking heads with her husband as they both leaned over their baby’s face. Conner whimpered and fussed, his lower lip trembling as he stared up at them, blue eyes pale.

“He’s…he’s fine,” Chase whispered, finally daring to breathe again. “He’s fine…”

Stepping back, Stacy ran trembling hands through her hair, blinking away tears. “That…” she began in a hoarse whisper, one which rose to a scream. “That _never happens again!!_ Give him to me! He’s _never_ coming here again!”

“Stacy—” Marvin coughed out despairingly, earning a swipe at his face with Stacy’s open palm. He narrowly dodged it, stumbling, and Jackieboy slid an arm around him for support, the silver glow diffusing from his troubled gaze.

Chase was helpless to speak around the lump in his throat as Stacy took their son from him, tucking his head underneath her chin as she stormed out.

“It—That was not your fault, Chase,” Schneep ventured apprehensively, gingerly placing a hand on his shoulder which Chase promptly shrugged off.

“She’s right,” he muttered numbly. “She’s right. That doesn’t happen again. That can’t—He was—” He drew in a shuddering breath, Anti’s smile widening in his mind, and then he doubled over, sobbing and retching simultaneously. Ever so faintly he was aware that Schneep held his hat and his hair back from his face as he did and that Jackieboy and Marvin had knelt on either side of him. Both of them planted hands on his back, but every time they started to console him, he remembered that Anti had _touched_ his _son_ and fresh terror coursed through his veins.

At long last he found the strength to keep down anything that was left in his stomach and blink away what was left in his heart. He leaned back, exhausted, and Jackieboy held him securely around the shoulders. Setting aside Chase’s hat, Schneep set about cleaning up the fresh mess on the floor and then examining Marvin’s bruised throat.

“Whoa…”

The voice of their creator brought all of their heads up. Jack stood in the doorway with Signe at his side, his brows furrowed in concern.

“Marvin, we got here as quickly as we—What happened to your throat?!” Signe demanded in disbelief, skirting past Jack’s elbow to approach.

“You ask the _Glitch_ what happened!” Schneep spat, tilting Marvin’s chin up and then prying open his jaw.

Face darkening, Jack made a sharp gesture for Jackieboy, who rose and went with him to the opposite corner of the room to discuss the details. Chase stayed where he was on the floor, staring vacantly at the far wall. How could he have been so infuriatingly stupid? Despite what Schneep had said, it _was_ his fault. If he hadn’t left his gun behind, if he hadn’t thought it was safe, if he hadn’t asked Stacy to trust him…

Stacy would despise everything about this place now. She would hate his work, his vlog, and she would certainly make sure neither of the kids ever laid eyes on his “coworkers” again.

 _So much for Take-Your-Children-To-Work-Day_.

He tuned back into his surroundings just soon enough to hear Jackieboy saying, “…see a car out front?”

“Nope, the lot was empty,” Jack assured them, folding his arms. “Not that Anti would even think of _using_ a car.”

“He means Stacy,” Chase mumbled. “She left me.”

Jack paused at that particular phrasing—why, Chase had yet to know—and then pursed his lips, crossing the distance and holding out a hand to help him up.

“We’ll take you home, then,” he offered, but Chase shook his head as he was pulled onto shaky legs.

“I…I want to stay here. Right now I don’t even know if Stacy would let me in the house,” he admitted, voice hitching.

Jack shook his head regretfully in agreement. “If you’re sure—”

“Mm-hm.”

“Then let’s get you set up in your old room,” Jackieboy suggested kindly, gesturing for Chase to follow him down the hall. That Chase did, mussing his hair as he ran a hand through it.

There wasn’t much preparation for them to do when they reached his old bedroom; it was just the same as it had been and thanks to Marvin’s magic, hardly any dust had collected. Falling face first onto the bed, the exhausted young Ego was asleep in seconds, dreaming of his role as a protector. He dreamt that he saved them, his wife and his kids, and that they loved and accepted him for it. He dreamt that Jack and the other Egos were proud of him. He dreamt that, for once in his life, he wasn’t a failure.

It was a good dream, one he didn’t want to wake up from.


End file.
